


Something Worth Protecting

by temperanceluvr



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Drama, Drama & Romance, F/M, Family, Sister-Sister Relationship, Sisters, Tragic Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-24
Updated: 2016-08-28
Packaged: 2018-08-10 20:02:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7859251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/temperanceluvr/pseuds/temperanceluvr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Torn from her family and tortured by Sendak, Yzeera joins the paladins of Voltron in their mission to defeat Zarkon. She promises to share information that could help defeat Zarkon if the paladins help her. Now on a mission of her own to find and rescue her sister, the paladins must earn Yzeera's trust and she must learn to move on and not dwell on the suffering she has endured.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. No Longer a Prisoner

“Good to have you back on the team.” Keith said to Pidge with a smile. Suddenly Keith noticed someone watching them from the hallway. “Who’s there?!” he shouted.

“Keith what’s wrong?” Shiro shouted as he, Pidge and Allura followed him.  
When they caught up to him he had cornered the intruder in the hall. They were up against the wall, trembling in front of him.

“Who are you and why are you spying on us?” Keith demanded as he summoned his bayard.

The intruder was a young woman with light blue skin, pointed ears, long dark pink hair and light pink eyes. She looked tired and her eyes were fixed upon Keith’s bayard, full of fear.

“Please don’t hurt me!” she begged.

That was when Allura noticed the girl’s hands were bound together. “She’s handcuffed! She must’ve been one of Sendak’s prisoners. Keith, put your bayard away!”

Keith hesitated but did as Allura said. Pidge quickly rushed over and cut off the handcuffs.

“Thank you,” the girl said to them. “You’re the ones who defeated Sendak, aren’t you?”

“How do you know that?” Keith asked suspiciously.

“I was hiding when you fought with him. I recognize your voices,” she said, her body still shaking with fear.

“You were one of Sendak’s prisoners right?” Shiro asked. “Why weren’t you held with the others?”

When the girl looked at him her eyes grew wide. “It’s you! Champion, the one who escaped!”

“You remember Shiro?” Pidge asked.

“I was there when he attacked the younger Earthling and fought bravely in the arena,” she answered.

“If you don’t mind my asking, what is your name?” Allura asked politely.

“My name is Yzeera,” she said nervously.

“I am Princess Allura of Altea, and these are the Paladins of Voltron.”

“Name’s Pidge, it’s nice to meet you.” Pidge shook Yzeera’s hand with a smile.

“You already know me, I guess,” Shiro said. “And that guy over there is Keith.”

“Why don’t we get you something to eat and you can tell us more afterwards?” Allura offered with a kind smile.

They brought Yzeera to the dining hall and Allura gave her some food. However, Yzeera did not make any effort to eat, instead she simply stared blankly at the dish, her eyes clouded with sadness.

“Are you feeling alright?” Allura asked worried.

“I’m sorry, I’m just not hungry,” Yzeera replied. “I am still very tired from Sendak interrogating me.”

“Interrogating you?” Pidge asked curiously.

Yzeera nodded. “You asked before why I wasn’t held with the other prisoners. It is because I have information that Zarkon wants.”

“What kind of information?” Keith asked.

“I can’t say, it isn’t information I can share so readily with strangers. Even if those strangers are the Paladins of Voltron.”

“If it’s information that can help take down Zarkon, we need to know.” Keith said angrily.

“Keith, if she doesn’t want to tell us she doesn’t have to. It’s her choice.” Shiro told him firmly. “I understand you don’t trust us yet, but if we can gain your trust, would you consider sharing that information with us?”

Yzeera thought for a minute. Finally, she answered, “If you help me, I will help you defeat

Zarkon in any way that I can. Only then will I be willing to share some of the information I know.” Yzeera’s face fell, her eyes suddenly brimming with tears. “When I was captured, ” her hands began to shake as tears rolled down her cheeks. “They… tore… out of my arms… and then…”

Suddenly, Yzeera began to scream, her tears falling uncontrollably, she grabbed her arms as she screamed. Stumbling to her feet, Yzeera took a few uneasy steps before falling to her knees. “Give her back! Don’t take her away! Please don’t take her! Please!”

Her screams echoed through the entire ship. Shiro, Pidge, Keith and Allura stared at her, unsure what to do. Shiro was the first to act. He went over to her cautiously.

“It’s okay, you’re safe now…” he said as he reached out to put his hand on her shoulder.

The second his hand touched her, she spun around and backed away from him. True terror in her eyes. “Please, no! Leave me alone! Just kill me already, I can’t take anymore of this!!!” she screamed as she backed up to the wall. “I won’t tell you anything, so please—just kill me!” Then, just as suddenly as her outburst had started, it ended when Yzeera fainted, her body falling limp to the cold floor.

“What was all that about?” Keith asked as Shiro picked Yzeera up off the floor.

“She must’ve had a panic attack,” Shiro said. “I think we should let her rest for a while.”

“Good idea,” Allura agreed. “In the meantime I will see if Coran and Hunk are back from the Balmera with the new crystal.”

Shiro carried Yzeera to a bedroom and put her in the bed. As he pulled the blanket over her, he noticed how peaceful she looked now that she was asleep. It was hard to imagine how someone who seemed so young and innocent could be the same person who had just shown such fear and sadness in her eyes.

“Do you think she might know where my family is?”

Shiro turned to see Pidge in the doorway. He knew that Pidge wanted to find her brother and father, but he doubted Yzeera would know more than the other prisoners did.

“I don’t know Pidge, she might but don’t get your hopes up. If she does have information, it might not be much.” Shiro admitted putting his hand on her shoulder.

Pidge looked down disappointed. She knew it was a long shot, but she hoped that Yzeera might be able to give her some kind of lead to her family’s whereabouts.

Shiro patted her shoulder. “C’mon, let’s go see if Hunk and Coran are back.”

 

_Yzeera watched helplessly as her younger sister fought in the arena for Zarkon’s entertainment. She watched with bated breath as Odani’s opponent got closer and closer to her. He was at least five times her size and strength._

_“Odani!” Yzeera shouted as the opponent grabbed her sister’s arm and lifted her off the ground. Odani struggled to free her arm, but her opponent was too strong. He threw her hard into the ground and, while still holding tightly onto her arm, he started to pound her into the ground with his huge feet. As her sister screamed in pain, tears filled Yzeera’s eyes. Her sister was being torn apart and all she could do was watch._

_Finally, the monstrous opponent pushed Odani further into the ground with his foot while also pulling tightly on her arm. Odani’s screams filled the arena, their sound piercing Yzeera’s heart. If he pulled any harder he was going to tear her arm off. And that’s exactly what he did._

“ODANI!!!!” Yzeera screamed.

She was not in the arena, she was in a room unknown to her. Her breathing was heavy and fast, her body covered in sweat and her vision was blurry from tears.When Yzeera dried her eyes, she noticed someone standing in the doorway. He was large, had black hair and dark skin.

“Are… are you okay?” he asked, a look of concern on his gentle face.

Yzeera stared at him confused, her heart still beating rapidly from her dream.

“Who are you? Where am I?” she asked, her voice shaking with fear.

“Oh, right, guess we haven't officially met yet.” he said scratching the back of his head. “My name’s Hunk, I'm one of the Paladins of Voltron. You’re Yzeera, right? Allura told me and Coran about you when we got back.”

Yzeera simply stared back at him, not saying a word.

“Anyway, I was just coming to see if you were awake and if you wanted to join us for breakfast. I mean, if you don’t that's okay, it’s not like you have to eat with us or anything, unless you wanted to,” he rambled on nervously.

As Hunk spoke, Yzeera’s eyes changed slightly, a dark pink slit spilled into the light pink irises in a way that resembled a cat’s eye. She could see Hunk’s aura clearly surrounding him. Hunk did not notice this, and Yzeera’s eyes returned to normal.

“I suppose I should eat something,” she said as she stood up.

The two walked down the hall, Hunk showing Yzeera the way to the dining hall where everyone else was waiting. He looked over at her and noticed her eyes were clouded with sadness and pain.

“Are you… feeling any better?” he asked, a hint of concern in his voice.

“No…” Yzeera answered, looking over at him, she gave him a small smile. “But thank you for your concern.”

Hunk smiled awkwardly. “You’re welcome…”

They reached the dining hall, everyone was huddled around a young man at the end of the table. He had tanned skin and brown hair. They turned to see Hunk and Yzeera as they walked in.

“Oh good, you’re awake,” Allura said relieved.

Shiro looked at Yzeera with great concern in his eyes. “How are you feeling today?”

Yzeera knew their intentions were well, so she managed to give them a reassuring smile. “I feel the same as I did yesterday,” she answered simply. “I do not understand why everyone is so worried about me when I’m nothing more than a prisoner.”

“But you’re not a prisoner anymore,” Pidge pointed out.

“Pidge is right, you’re free now. And we are worried about you because you seemed to be in a lot of pain yesterday,",” Shiro added.

“Who is she?” the guy sitting at the table asked looking over at Yzeera.

“Oh, Lance, this is Yzeera, the girl we were just telling you about,” Allura said. “Yzeera, this is Lance. He’d be Sendak’s prisoner right now if not for Pidge.”

“Well, he wouldn't have survived the explosion if Hunk and Coran hadn’t gotten a new crystal.” Pidge explained.

“Wow. Thanks everybody,” Lance said gratefully. “Sounds like the mice did more than you, though,” he added to Keith.

Yzeera listened to them intently. They all seemed a bit young to be the defenders of the universe. It was hard to wrap her head around the fact these Earthlings were the legendary paladins of Voltron she'd grown up hearing stories of. While she listened to their chatter, Yzeera was also reading their auras, something her husband had told her to do anytime she came across strangers claiming to be against Zarkon. And even though she had avoided many traps by doing so, she had also lost many allies who felt offended by her lack of trust.

“Now that’s a cool trick,” Lance said suddenly, looking at Yzeera. He leaned in closer, looking at her eyes.

She had been so focused on their auras she hadn’t realized they had stopped talking and were now looking at her. Quickly she returned her eyes to normal and drew back from his close proximity.

“What is up with your eyes? Is that some sort of alien illness or something?” Lance asked, still examining Yzeera’s eyes.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Yzeera lied calmly, embarrassed she had been caught and not wanting to explain her actions. “There’s nothing wrong with my eyes, I can assure you.”

“Lance, it’s rude to stare,” Allura scolded.

“Yeah man, give her a break,” Pidge chimed in.

Everyone passed it off as Lance simply just seeing things. Well, almost everyone. Keith narrowed his eyes, watching her closely. Something was definitely suspicious about Yzeera.

“So, what’s the plan now?” Lance asked.

“We have to get back to the Balmera and save Shay and her people.” Hunk said earnestly.

“Wow! You are _**really** _ hung up on this lady.” Lance said.

“No, it’s not like that,” Hunk explained. “Look guys, when you see how Zarkon has treated these people and destroyed their home— they’ve been under his thumb for so long, they don’t even know what it is to be free. It’s up to us to set this right. _**This** _ is what being a paladin of Voltron is all about. It’s time to man up.”

Shiro nodded in agreement. “Then let’s get moving. Time to go defend the universe.”

As the others got up to head to the bridge of the Castleship, Yzeera and Pidge didn’t move. Yzeera’s thoughts were back on her home planet and how her family had been ruled by the Galra Empire. She remembered very clearly how it felt to have all her freedom taken away from her. And though she felt for the Balmerans, she feared going up against the Galra again.


	2. Reason to Fight

It was late one evening when a baby’s cries echoed through a Galra work camp prison barracks. Groans filled the rooms as the other prisoners were awoken to the noise. A young alien girl with blue skin, three arms, and lavender hair was trying her best to calm the little one.

“Shut that thing up now!” A Galran soldier demanded as he banged on the wall. The loud noise made the baby cry even louder.

The girl did not say anything, but continued to rock the baby gently. “Shh, it’s okay sweetie, auntie Odani isn’t gonna let anyone hurt you. Please baby, go back to sleep,” she pleaded with the small infant. The baby continued to cry.

“You better shut it up quickly before I decide to kill it.”

“I’m doing the best I can!” Odani said angrily. “I’m not her mother, that’s why she’s crying. She just wants her mother.”

The Galra soldier chuckled. “You think I give a crap what that thing wants?” He bent down and grabbed her free arm, lifting her and the crying infant off the bed and pulling her face close to his. Her terrified face reflected in his yellow eyes. “If it doesn’t stop screaming in a few more ticks, I’m gonna shut it up for good.”

He shoved Odani and the baby back onto the bed. She knew if she didn’t stop her niece’s cries the soldier would kill her without so much as batting an eye. Odani cradled the baby close to her chest, humming a soft lullaby in her ear. Within moments the baby’s cries began to grow quieter, the lullaby starting to calm her, and it wasn’t long before she had stopped crying entirely.

“That’s better, now back to bed,” the Galra soldier ordered before marching off.

Odani gave a sigh of relief as she laid back on her bed. She retracted her second set of arms and wrapped her remaining arm around the baby.

“I’m sorry I can’t give you much milk, Zurea. I hope you can forgive me,” Odani whispered to the baby as she laid beside her cradled in Odani’s arm. “I know you miss your mommy too, but I’m just gonna have to do for now little one.”

“Is she alright?”

Odani looked up to see an older Earthling standing beside her bed. She sighed and looked back down at her niece’s now sleeping face, stroking Zurea’s cheek gently. “I haven’t been able to produce enough milk for her. My sister was able to feed her before, but since I’m all she’s got left it’s up to me to make sure she gets taken care of. I’m still new to it all, so maybe that’s why Zurea’s been so fussy lately. What if I stop producing milk altogether and she cries even more? I can’t let the Galra hurt her.”

Dr. Holt watched as tears rolled down Odani’s face. She had been trying so hard to care for her niece but it was taking a toll on her. Both emotionally and physically.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Okay. So, when we get there, what do you think? Do we just roll up and start blasting? Or do we land and have some kind of public address system, like, ‘Attention, Galras, this is Voltron. Turn yourselves in,’? No. Blasting, right?”

“Hunk, calm down. And, yes, blasting,” Keith said.

“It’s our first big rescue mission, he’s excited,” Shiro said with a smile.

“Excited to see his new girlfriend,” Pidge teased, leaning back to look at Hunk.

“UH! She’s not my girlfriend!” Hunk said defensively. “She’s just a rock that I met and I admire very much.”

The Castleship was flying through space on it’s way to the Balmera. The paladins were huddled together while Coran and Allura managed the controls. Yzeera was sitting on her own next to the large window, her face resting on her arms over her knees. She feared going to a planet full of Galra soldiers but knew that it was inevitable. The paladins of Voltron were defenders of the universe after all, it’s their duty to save those in need. Yzeera was startled by an alarm suddenly blaring, her body flinching at the sound.

“What is it? Are we being attacked?” Shiro asked.

“No, it seems to be a distress beacon,” Coran answered.

“It’s coming from a nearby moon. Apparently a ship has lost power,” Allura explained.

“I wonder who it is,” Pidge thought aloud.

“Whoever it is will have to wait. Shay has first priority. We can check back on them when we’re done,” Hunk said decisively.

“The Paladin Code states that we must help all those in need,” Allura said sternly to Hunk.

“Wow! This is so cool,” Lance said excitedly. “It’s like we’re space cops on space patrol. Coran, do we have a siren we can turn on?”

Yzeera looked over at the paladins. Lance seemed to be the most childish of the bunch, yet his childish personality brought a sort of comfort to Yzeera that she couldn’t explain. His behavior felt so familiar to her, yet she could not place why.

“Uhmn no. But we could record you making a siren noise and broadcast that to them,” Coran answered Lance.

“Perfect!” Lance began to make a siren sound and Shiro quickly covered his mouth.

“Nope, not doing that.”

Yzeera found herself laugh softly at this. When she realized this, she shook her head. “What is wrong with me, this is no time to be laughing!” she whispered to herself. She stood and placed her hand against the window. “I have to stay focused. I have others depending on me.”

Keith looked over at Yzeera and saw her mumbling something to herself. “Hey Shiro, why are we keeping that girl around? I know she was one of Sendak’s prisoners but I don’t think we should let her have free reign inside the Castle.”

“I understand you’re worried, but she says she has information that Zarkon wants and it might be information that we can use to defeat him once and for all,” Shiro told him. “Yzeera is still scared and deserves to be given a chance.”

“For all we know she could be lying just to get us to trust her. And she hasn’t told us what she wants our help with,” Keith insisted, looking over his shoulder to Yzeera. She was gazing out at the stars, seemingly uninterested in everything going on around her. “I just have this bad feeling that she’s hiding something from us.”

“Keith, listen, I know we’re all still a little on edge after what happened with Sendak, but Yzeera was a prisoner and she has clearly suffered a lot because of it. We don’t know what she’s been through and we don’t know how long it’ll take to earn her trust. Until then, we just need to make sure she feels safe so she knows we really are on her side. Maybe once she trusts us she’ll tell us what she wants our help with in exchange for the information.”

As the ship began to land, Keith went over to Yzeera. “Don’t try anything while we’re gone,” he warned her.

“Like what?” Yzeera asked, clearly offended by his insinuation. “I’m not going to try and steal the ship. I’m not a Galra.”

“No, but we still can’t trust you, not yet anyway.” Keith turned to walk back to the group when Yzeera spoke up.

“You don’t get it, do you?” Yzeera asked. “I know my reasons for not trusting you yet, but you don’t want to trust me.”

“No, I don’t trust you because you’re hiding something from us,” Keith corrected her. “Not to mention I think you’re lying about having information that can defeat Zarkon.”

“Believe what you want, I can’t change your mind.” Yzeera walked past Keith, heading toward the group as they got ready to disembark the ship.

“Stay aboard and try to get as many of our systems clear of that Galra crystal energy as you can,” Allura instructed Coran. “We’ll see who hailed us.”

“Yes, Princess,” Coran responded.

As they left, Lance looked over at Yzeera and gave her a smile and wave goodbye. Suddenly, Yzeera felt her heart leap and then a knot caught in her throat.

_“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. I promise I’ll come back home.”_

A familiar voice echoed in her ears, tears began streaming down her cheeks. The voice, so strong and sure, unknowing the fate that awaited its owner. Yzeera fell to her knees, her eyes full of pain and loss.

“Yzeera, are you alright?” Coran asked worried as he rushed over to her.

“Asha…” Yzeera mumbled, unaware of Coran beside her. She stretched out her arms as if she was reaching out to something, trying desperately to grab onto it. “Don’t go… I can’t do it alone…”

Coran cautiously tapped Yzeera’s shoulder. She looked over at him and suddenly realized she was crying.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me,” she cried as she wiped her tears away. The tears, however, continued to fall. “I don’t understand why I’m crying, this isn’t--”

“It’s okay,” Coran said gently, his hand on her shoulder.

“What do you mean?” she asked confused as she continued to wipe away her tears. “I’m being so stupid, crying after all this time.”

“It’s okay to cry over someone you lost,” Coran told her. “Allura and I are the only Alteans left. Everyone we knew is gone.”

Yzeera looked down at her hands. She had lost everything. Her home was destroyed, her family torn apart, the life she once knew was gone.

“How do you manage to keep going?” she asked.

“What?”

Yzeera looked up at him, her eyes meeting his. “What reason do you have to keep fighting?”

“Well, we have to defeat Zarkon and save the universe from the Galra Empire. If we don’t keep fighting, everyone in the universe will die,” Coran replied.

“Of course… I should’ve guessed that was your reason to fight,” Yzeera said, turning her gaze to the dark sky out the windows. “But is fighting to defend the universe all that you’re fighting for? Is there nothing else driving you to continue a seemingly hopeless fight?”

“I don’t understand what you mean,”

“The Galra took my home, they took my family and tore us apart,” Yzeera said. “I managed to stay true to myself and continue to fight because I have something worth protecting. I have something I have to do in order to make things right. My will won’t be broken.”


End file.
